Doesn't help that if we lose our sword in a way we can't retrieve there is no way to get it back forcing us to either quit or just play as a normal Huntsman.
I really wouldn't worry too much about that. If we're ever in a situation where we've irreversibly lost the transistor, we either fucked up super hard or we're at the end of the quest (or both), as otherwise losing most of our powerset would just be boring.
And Prok is a pretty good writer.
And if we do lose the transistor in a way where we can get it back, a retrieval arc sounds really fun anyway.
While I am fine with what won I kind of am as well with how interesting the interlude of what could have been was. Doesn't help that if we lose our sword in a way we can't retrieve there is no way to get it back forcing us to either quit or just play as a normal huntsman.
I really wouldn't worry too much about that. If we're ever in a situation where we've irreversibly lost the transistor, we either fucked up super hard or we're at the end of the quest (or both), as otherwise losing most of our powerset would just be boring.
And Prok is a pretty good writer.
And if we do lose the transistor in a way where we can get it back, a retrieval arc sounds really fun anyway.
We can actually rebuild the Transistor. We can't build a spare, since rebuilding is just resumoning parts without the damage, but we can totally rebuild it.
Look, I'll be honest with you, Jaune here takes 'pry it from my cold dead hands' a little too seriously. If you've lost the Transistor, chances are you're either gonna restart from an earlier point anyway, because you're dead, or you've gotten to the point where you don't need it anymore, because you've virtualized half of Vale.
In the very, very, very, very unlikely scenario that you lose the Transistor and neither of those apply, you have options! Learn to use a normal sword! Ask for help from friends! Worst comes to the worst, break into the CCTS and use their servers to resummon it!
I am giving you every single excuse you need to keep a hold of or reclaim the Transistor so that you have no excuse to try and use Functions without it. I feel I've done a good enough job of that that nothing bar willful idiocy on the part of other people can possibly lead to it.
Look, I'll be honest with you, Jaune here takes 'pry it from my cold dead hands' a little too seriously. If you've lost the Transistor, chances are you're either gonna restart from an earlier point anyway, because you're dead, or you've gotten to the point where you don't need it anymore, because you've virtualized half of Vale.
In the very, very, very, very unlikely scenario that you lose the Transistor and neither of those apply, you have options! Learn to use a normal sword! Ask for help from friends! Worst comes to the worst, break into the CCTS and use their servers to resummon it!
I am giving you every single excuse you need to keep a hold of or reclaim the Transistor so that you have no excuse to try and use Functions without it. I feel I've done a good enough job of that that nothing bar willful idiocy on the part of other people can possibly lead to it.
It's gonna be hillarious meeting other people in Beacon. Most people chose to not have their weapons with them unless there's a chance of combat in near future since a lot of weapons are heavy and cumbersome.
And then there's Jaune, just walking around with 300 pounds of supercomputer. Because nobody could convince him to leave it in the rocket powered closet.
Although, think of the utility this gives him. He'll always be able to find the objectively best ice cream in town within seconds.
It's gonna be hillarious meeting other people in Beacon. Most people chose to not have their weapons with them unless there's a chance of combat in near future since a lot of weapons are heavy and cumbersome.
Ehhh, People who mastered art of Cutting were not particularly happy people. Most of them were really mad at the world, so mad in fact, that they found a way to use the anger to directly anihilate their enemies.
Ruby's joyous attitude just doesn't mesh as well with universal conquest to me.
Look, I'll be honest with you, Jaune here takes 'pry it from my cold dead hands' a little too seriously. If you've lost the Transistor, chances are you're either gonna restart from an earlier point anyway, because you're dead, or you've gotten to the point where you don't need it anymore, because you've virtualized half of Vale.
It's gonna be hillarious meeting other people in Beacon. Most people chose to not have their weapons with them unless there's a chance of combat in near future since a lot of weapons are heavy and cumbersome.
And then there's Jaune, just walking around with 300 pounds of supercomputer. Because nobody could convince him to leave it in the rocket powered closet.
Although, think of the utility this gives him. He'll always be able to find the objectively best ice cream in town within seconds.
Ehhh, People who mastered art of Cutting were not particularly happy people. Most of them were really mad at the world, so mad in fact, that they found a way to use the anger to directly anihilate their enemies.
Ruby's joyous attitude just doesn't mesh as well with universal conquest to me.
She is not an aspirant for Royalty, and thereby attains it through little effort.
More seriously though, how much Meti's Sword Manual is actual philosophy surrounding the marriage of combat and living life as the same thing with the same goal, and how much of it was a reflection of her general attitude that everyone else is a moron is in my opinion, up for debate. Not to mention that looking at Maya, it seems that the effects of learning the principal art of Cutting tend to vary. Meti became a cynic who was reduced to living in a barrel in a marketplace and a habitual drunk. Maya, by contrast, gained a sort of serenity about her, completely dissonant with her actions- she smiles and apologises to a noodle vendor for being a little greedy after killing about twenty men without leaving her seat. When the information that Alison had the OG Magus Gate shoved into her forehead, her only reaction was to really enjoy those noodles.
She... also became a habitual drunk.
... Now what I'm gathering from this is that students of the art of Cutting become habitual drunks.
She is not an aspirant for Royalty, and thereby attains it through little effort.
More seriously though, how much Meti's Sword Manual is actual philosophy surrounding the marriage of combat and living life as the same thing with the same goal, and how much of it was a reflection of her general attitude that everyone else is a moron is in my opinion, up for debate. Not to mention that looking at Maya, it seems that the effects of learning the principal art of Cutting tend to vary. Meti became a cynic who was reduced to living in a barrel in a marketplace and a habitual drunk. Maya, by contrast, gained a sort of serenity about her, completely dissonant with her actions- she smiles and apologises to a noodle vendor for being a little greedy after killing about twenty men without leaving her seat. When the information that Alison had the OG Magus Gate shoved into her forehead, her only reaction was to really enjoy those noodles.
She... also became a habitual drunk.
... Now what I'm gathering from this is that students of the art of Cutting become habitual drunks.
Just look at the seven kings. We only really got backstories of two of them (+Metti) but from what we have seen, none of them are exactly well ajusted.
(On a completely unrelated note can I be a little shit and ask people to go and check out my third quest? I know I shouldn't shill my own stuff but it's reached the kind of voting stalemate that I can't fix, so if y'all could go and help fix that, that'd be wonderful!)
|||
As you step back, dodging a bullet that would have left you a eunuch if you didn't have Aura, and would have you wheezing on the ground regardless, you decide you've had quite enough of that.
"You don't need to do this! We can work together, take down Saff, and then fight!" You repeat a little more forcefully. "You heard him, he's snapped! We need to stop him before he actually hurts somebody!"
You hear a tired sigh right behind you, and you dodge before he can dome you. The bullet never comes, and you suddenly feel like a bit of a prat. The concrete and rebar crumble in front of you, revealing Moss, holding his cavalry sabre low, out of the way.
"... Can I be honest, Jaune?" Salem asks you. "I don't really wanna fight you. Really, I don't."
You blink, taken aback by that.
"Look, I dunno how it works, but that... sword of yours. It's not really a sword, right? It's telling you where I am with some kind of seismic bullshit, and that's how you're dodging everything, right?" You blanch, and you get the feeling that he knows it. "Yeah. That makes you, honestly, a cast iron bitch to fight. Saff, by contrast, well, look at me-" He gestures, slapping his chest as he does. "I am a hard counter to, all of this! This is nothing to me! If anything, he's crippled himself to me!"
You don't need a sonar pulse to know there's a grin on his face.
{Wait. None of that explains why he doesn't just, coast it through to sixth place. Is he aiming for first or something?}
Your sword makes a good point. It doesn't have a good point, but it makes a good point.
"... None... none of that explains this. If you wanted to, you could just walk out of here, wait ten minutes, and coast straight into sixth place at worst. Why put yourself at risk like this?"
Salem sighs again, this time with almost patient exasperation, like a parent who's explaining something to a child.
"... Right, Jaune, I'm going to explain something that might be a shock to you." He says, pausing for a moment. "I... want first place."
You don't need sonar to know he just smacked his hands to the side of his head, giving a shocked gasp as he does. It gives you a recreation of it anyway, but you don't need it.
"Why? Sixth place has the exact same benefits, this just seems like more effort."
You understand the appeal of reaching first place, but when it has the exact same benefits as places two through six, you can't help but feel there's... an ulterior motive.
He blinks. "Wh... are you serious? 'Why do you want first place?' Do I even need to answer that question?"
"Yeah. It has the exact same benefits as two through six, there is no logical reason to want it, so it's either just for pride or something else. I think you're hiding something, Salem. Come on, tell me, why do you really want first place so badly?"
"... Why do you want to know so badly?"
"Because now that I'm thinking about it, I won't stop, and I won't be able to drop it for a week!"
It's true. If something bothers you, even slightly, your sleep cycle goes to shit. You'll be a zombie by the end of the week thinking about this.
Salem sighs, again, real sigh-heavy boy, you realise, and seems to relent.
"... Fine. But... can you keep a secret?" He asks.
You nod, before realising he probably can't see you and hum an affirmative instead.
"... Sooo... there's a girl..." He starts, and you can hear his demeanour change almost immediately. Where a cold-blooded killer who was doing a very good job at wearing you down once stood, there's now a lovestruck dope, ready to jump on the slightest chance to talk about this girl of his.
"I met her at a book store, I was taking my sister out to grab textbooks and stuff, we got talking, and I just... man, she's something else. She's funny, she finds me funny, she's probably the most well-read person I've ever met, she talks about all these different philosophers and myths and stories and I just feel a little bad for just staring at her like a fool- I bought seven books last week. Seven! I don't think I've read seven books in my entire life, and now this girl's got me interested in things like the Two Brothers, the story of Hrima and Ydra, Diklah's theory of planes, Aoi Izumi's stuff... I feel like... I feel like I need to become a better person just to keep up with her, dude."
You stay silent, watching Salem as he gushes over this mystery girl, and you can't help but... kind of understand his point. He's obviously head over heels for her, but he still hasn't said anything about why he wants to win... first... place...
No way.
"And... yeah. I kinda, promised her I'd come outta here in first place."
{Yes way. The boy went full love-struck moron.}
You. Genuinely don't know how to respond to this. He just never struck you as... well, the type to do this. To, you know, get all mushy over a girl.
"What's her name?" You ask almost absentmindedly, buying your brain some time to process this revelation.
"... Theodosia. She likes Theo, like, as a nickname, and that's just, I, it's just so-" He devolves into noises of sheer glee, tongue between his teeth as he does this sort of weird shimmy dance, before flopping onto his back and now he's through the floor.
{Step to the left.}
You do as you're told, and feel a knife whiz past your ear, right where the base of your skull would have been. Mini-Moss doesn't seem to understand the idea of "Potential fatality," in your experience with him.
"So, yeah, that's why I'm so eager to get the gold!" He continues cheerily. "And that's why I can't just say screw it and team up with you because I fully intend to down everyone in here if I can."
It's at the point that his knife becomes a gun and he aims to dome you that you decide diplomacy has officially failed. Welp, since violence seems to be the only answer these people understand...
Queue Crash().
Crash()Queued.
You raise your sword high, energy building and painting the hallway a pale blue dancing off the shadows where the foundations are slowly beginning to settle, gravity and strain taking their toll on the walls of the maze. Aim, DC 15, Roll: 3. Failure!
Salem, however, is not a moron and sinks through the ground to avoid it. The violent scanning field hits the already weakened wall, and it blows out, sending a rumble through the whole structure.
Warning: Load-bearing support partially damaged. Suggest caution.
What?! How was that random wall load-bearing?!
{This maze is built with the architectural equivalent of breadsticks and prayer, Jaune, there's a non-zero chance every wall is a load bearing wall. Also Breach() directly to your left.}
The human whack-a-mole is highlighted in your vision, and you see him waiting underground. Instead of questioning it, you just charge a Breach() and wait for him to appear.
As predicted, he comes up directly to your left, and you let it go, blasting him into the wall, then through it. Properly through it, that is, not that weird sinking thing he does. He rolls with the blast of high-energy particles, and when he finally stops, he sinks through the ground again. You ready for another attack, only relaxing when it never comes.
... Did he run?
{Yep. He's running.}
Almost as if to punctuate it, a light blue outline showing seismic activity appears, showing the source moving away from you for greener pastures. Before you can relax, though, the walls and ground begin to rumble.
Warning! Local structural integrity critical! Suggest immediate evacuation of self and other at-risk combatants. Scanning... 0 found. Self-preservation main priority.
Small chunks of concrete and rebar begin to fall around you, and it doesn't take much to get you to Jaunt() out through the hole you just made with Salem's body. As soon as you stop, the wall collapses properly, and the entire corridor is filled with rubble. You can hear blocks of material rapidly shifting as Saff performs rapid-fire structural maintenance, coupled with equally if not greater rapid-fire cursing.
"FUCKING- YOU SEE?! YOU SEE THIS SHIT!? THIS IS A PERFECT LITTLE MICROCOSM OF EVERYTHING I'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT! YOU CAN'T GO TEN FUCKING MINUTES WITHOUT NEARLY BRINGING FOURTEEN TONS OF CONCRETE AND REBAR DOWN ON EVERYONE'S HEADS! YOU'RE A LIABILITY!"
"It's shoddy workmanship!" Someone calls out from elsewhere in the maze, the echoing acoustics doing little to help you pinpoint him.
"MAZE WALLS ARE THERE FOR A REASON NOW SHUT THE FUCK UP DONNIE BEFORE I BOLT YOUR NUTS TO THE WALL-"
It's... almost impressive, really, his ability to carry on screaming his head off while rearranging the maze to compensate for your impromptu interior design choice. You see blocks shifting, the rubble being reconstituted into usable material as Saff works to keep his maze from becoming a complete deathtrap.
Which, doesn't change the fact that it's still mostly a deathtrap. But, you're free of conflict now. You can focus on... well, getting out of here. Or taking advantage of your ability to see stuff in the dark to blindside- HA- people, or try and find your allies or...
Wait. Hold it. This sounds like vote material. Welp, my break's over.
[] Escape()- Bugger Saff, bugger Lumen, bugger Creme, it is time to look after numero uno, and numero uno is numero youno. Figure out how to get out of here, damn everyone else. It's not like you can't just lie about not being able to find them later, anyway. You guess.
-[] ... Ok, how do you intend to get out of the maze? It's not as if you have a map.
[] Subterfuge()- Actually? Sini had the right idea. You can see in this darkness, at least as well as a Faunus can, and you don't think there's many of them left in the running. Saff, Creme, uh... no, yeah, they're it, you think. Time to go be the blade in the night.
-[] (Write-in)
[] Regroup()- Safety in numbers. Find out where your friends are and stick the fuck together. Creme's a Faunus, night vision, she'll be fine, you have about ten squintillion different sensors packed into the Transistor, but Lumen's gonna be blind, and that is bad when you are possibly fighting for your lives.
[] Switch()- Go take over someone else for a while, you possessing little shits. Jaune's wearing big boy pants today, he'll figure out what needs doing on his own, don't you worry. Go play about with another body for a bit.
-[] Lumen
-[] Creme
[] (Write-in)
Adhoc vote count started by Prok on Aug 6, 2017 at 9:44 AM, finished with 413 posts and 16 votes.
[X] Regroup()- Safety in numbers. Find out where your friends are and stick the fuck together. Creme's a Faunus, night vision, she'll be fine, you have about ten squintillion different sensors packed into the Transistor, but Lumen's gonna be blind, and that is bad when you are possibly fighting for your lives. -[X] If possible take shots at Saff when we are able but only if it doesn't risk the structural integrity of the maze, just because this lunatic is careless enough to endanger everyone else here doesn't mean we are going to. But always leave some energy to potentially Jaunt/escape any trouble like say a wall falling on top of us. --[x] Start scanning for your allies to make it a bit easier on yourself as well as scan for Saff.
[X] Regroup()- Safety in numbers. Find out where your friends are and stick the fuck together. Creme's a Faunus, night vision, she'll be fine, you have about ten squintillion different sensors packed into the Transistor, but Lumen's gonna be blind, and that is bad when you are possibly fighting for your lives.
[X] Regroup()- Safety in numbers. Find out where your friends are and stick the fuck together. Creme's a Faunus, night vision, she'll be fine, you have about ten squintillion different sensors packed into the Transistor, but Lumen's gonna be blind, and that is bad when you are possibly fighting for your lives. -[X] Leave Saff to do his whole maze building thing, you can see in the dark, so it's no skin off your back. Instead grab your friends and take them hunting for some unlucky schmucks whose night vision isn't as good. --[X] Try to avoid another fight with Mini-Moss, he'd probably take down Lumen if your group got into a fight with him, and you want to see your friends through to the final six.
[X] Switch()- Go take over someone else for a while, you possessing little shits. Jaune's wearing big boy pants today, he'll figure out what needs doing on his own, don't you worry. Go play about with another body for a bit. -[X] Crème
Adhoc vote count started by Prok on Aug 7, 2017 at 3:07 PM, finished with 430 posts and 18 votes.
[X] Regroup()- Safety in numbers. Find out where your friends are and stick the fuck together. Creme's a Faunus, night vision, she'll be fine, you have about ten squintillion different sensors packed into the Transistor, but Lumen's gonna be blind, and that is bad when you are possibly fighting for your lives. -[X] If possible take shots at Saff when we are able but only if it doesn't risk the structural integrity of the maze, just because this lunatic is careless enough to endanger everyone else here doesn't mean we are going to. But always leave some energy to potentially Jaunt/escape any trouble like say a wall falling on top of us. --[x] Start scanning for your allies to make it a bit easier on yourself as well as scan for Saff.
[X] Regroup()- Safety in numbers. Find out where your friends are and stick the fuck together. Creme's a Faunus, night vision, she'll be fine, you have about ten squintillion different sensors packed into the Transistor, but Lumen's gonna be blind, and that is bad when you are possibly fighting for your lives. -[X] Leave Saff to do his whole maze building thing, you can see in the dark, so it's no skin off your back. Instead grab your friends and take them hunting for some unlucky schmucks whose night vision isn't as good. --[X] Try to avoid another fight with Mini-Moss, he'd probably take down Lumen if your group got into a fight with him, and you want to see your friends through to the final six.
[X] Regroup()- Safety in numbers. Find out where your friends are and stick the fuck together. Creme's a Faunus, night vision, she'll be fine, you have about ten squintillion different sensors packed into the Transistor, but Lumen's gonna be blind, and that is bad when you are possibly fighting for your lives.
[X] Switch()- Go take over someone else for a while, you possessing little shits. Jaune's wearing big boy pants today, he'll figure out what needs doing on his own, don't you worry. Go play about with another body for a bit. -[X] Crème
We really need to shove our sword through that guy. We basically know where everyone is at any given time I think, can't we just put one of those shot things through the structure and into him?
Or we can just take out the load bearing walls such that they wouldn't fall on anyone. I'd like to see the looks on some faces when they realize what we're doing while we make the other guy look more and more like a complete idiotic lunatic... not that he already isn't doing that.
[X] Regroup()- Safety in numbers. Find out where your friends are and stick the fuck together. Creme's a Faunus, night vision, she'll be fine, you have about ten squintillion different sensors packed into the Transistor, but Lumen's gonna be blind, and that is bad when you are possibly fighting for your lives.
Can Transistor find Saff? Because I'd like to take out Saff before he takes out everyone. Ideally, in a way that makes examiners later tell him that his shoddy workmanship almost crushed half a dozen people.
[X] Regroup()- Safety in numbers. Find out where your friends are and stick the fuck together. Creme's a Faunus, night vision, she'll be fine, you have about ten squintillion different sensors packed into the Transistor, but Lumen's gonna be blind, and that is bad when you are possibly fighting for your lives.
-[X] If possible take shots at Saff when we are able but only if it doesn't risk the structural integrity of the maze, just because this lunatic is careless enough to endanger everyone else here doesn't mean we are going to. But always leave some energy to potentially Jaunt/escape any trouble like say a wall falling on top of us.
--[x] Start scanning for your allies to make it a bit easier on yourself as well as scan for Saff.
Might want to regroup first since it would likely make taking down Saff a lot easier.
[X] Regroup()- Safety in numbers. Find out where your friends are and stick the fuck together. Creme's a Faunus, night vision, she'll be fine, you have about ten squintillion different sensors packed into the Transistor, but Lumen's gonna be blind, and that is bad when you are possibly fighting for your lives.
-[X] If possible take shots at Saff when we are able but only if it doesn't risk the structural integrity of the maze, just because this lunatic is careless enough to endanger everyone else here doesn't mean we are going to. But always leave some energy to potentially Jaunt/escape any trouble like say a wall falling on top of us.
--[x] Start scanning for your allies to make it a bit easier on yourself as well as scan for Saff.
Was coming up with my own but then I saw yours and decided to add on an extra bit there @Red Bovine
Edit: alright fixed with Red Bovine's updated vote.
[X] Regroup()- Safety in numbers. Find out where your friends are and stick the fuck together. Creme's a Faunus, night vision, she'll be fine, you have about ten squintillion different sensors packed into the Transistor, but Lumen's gonna be blind, and that is bad when you are possibly fighting for your lives.
-[X] If possible take shots at Saff when we are able but only if it doesnt' rish the structural integrity of the maze, just because this unique is careless enough to endanger everyone else here doesn't mean we are going to. But always leave some energy to potentially Jaunt/escape any trouble like say a wall falling on top of us.
--[x] Start scanning for your allies to make it a bit easier on yourself as well as scan for Saff.
Was coming up with my own but then I saw yours and decided to add on an extra bit there @Red Bovine
I think that if we get a chance, we should definitely let Salem take first place. Obviously, if our allies want to fight him we should probably join in, but if it's a situation where we're already guaranteed a spot in sixth place it costs us nothing to help him, and we stand to gain from it. Salem is lovestruck after all, and we'd be helping him woo the girl he's obsessed with. In general, when your emotions are running high like that, everything seems more significant and important--especially when it's something related to the reason your emotions are running high. Barring unforeseen circumstances--Salem wants to take first place on his own, etc.--I'm guessing Salem will be pretty grateful.
Of course, I might be forgetting something, since I don't remember all of the fine details about the recent updates very well. I'd go back and re-read to refresh myself, but I don't have the time at the moment.
[X] Regroup()- Safety in numbers. Find out where your friends are and stick the fuck together. Creme's a Faunus, night vision, she'll be fine, you have about ten squintillion different sensors packed into the Transistor, but Lumen's gonna be blind, and that is bad when you are possibly fighting for your lives.
-[X] If possible take shots at Saff when we are able but only if it doesn't risk the structural integrity of the maze, just because this lunatic is careless enough to endanger everyone else here doesn't mean we are going to. But always leave some energy to potentially Jaunt/escape any trouble like say a wall falling on top of us.
--[x] Start scanning for your allies to make it a bit easier on yourself as well as scan for Saff.
Might want to regroup first since it would likely make taking down Saff a lot easier.
You misplaced an apostrophe in that "doesn't" there @Red Bovine. I've highlighted the correct placement in red. That aside, this seems like a pretty solid vote.
[X] Red Bovine
(I'm pretty sure we can do user votes with the new forum system, right?)
] Blast your way through more walls, and enrage the guy who made them. 
